An Open Letter to Patriotic Microphilanthropists

We applaud Bill Moyers and Arnold Hiatt's "Open Letter to Patriotic Philanthropists" in the Winter 2013 Issue of Democracy. It's an eloquent and timely call to action for "well heeled and well connected" donors to support work that is critical to the future of our nation and our world.

Political reform funding does suffer from an imbalance in resources between lobbyists and activists, caused in part by nearsightedness favoring quantifiable deliverables and risk aversion to innovative projects. However, we feel that we are only looking at one part of the reform movement. Many of the values we care about are as much cultural issues as they are explicitly political or legal issues. We should also be funding efforts to deliver cultural change, and doing so in a way that pushes cultural change itself.

An organization we are both affiliated with, The Awesome Foundation, likes to think of its model in terms of "slow funding," like the slow food movement standing in opposition to "fast food," by raising public awareness about, improving access to, and encouraging the enjoyment of funds that are local and sustainably grown.

With this in mind we offer an open letter of our own, a call to action for "Patriotic Microphilanthropists."

Reading Moyers and Hiatt's letter we couldn’t help but wonder what a Citizens' United world means for us less well heeled folks. Is there any way for small dollar donations to have power in American politics when the entire population of San Jose would need to give $100 just to match Sheldon Adelson’s donations in 2012?

Yes, but only if small donors break out their thinking caps along with their credit cards. The changed political landscape requires that we combine the power of people and dollars in new ways. We need to find ways to create impact that is beyond the grasp of big dollars—whether they're from Arnie Hiatt or Sheldon Adelson. There are an infinite numbers of ways to do this in politics and we are inspired by the incredible community of progressive organizers thinking about and working on solutions.

We think one of the potential best solutions comes from The Awesome Foundation, our own whimsical collection of small-time givers that has little to do with politics. Erhardt is one of the founding trustees of the original Boston chapter, and Sam is a trustee of the NYC chapter. Every month, we go to a bar in our respective cities and meet up with 10 fellow trustees. Each trustee puts in $100 of their own money to create a $1,000 communal pot. Then we read through submitted project ideas and try to reach consensus on which idea is the most "awesome" that month. Shortly thereafter, our chosen project organizer receives the one-time $1,000 grant with no strings attached at a little party in their honor.

The Awesome Foundation may be whimsical but it has an outsized impact. Founded in the summer of 2009, there are now 60+ chapters around the world that have given a total of $375,000+ in grants to 375+ projects. The impact is multiplied by access to local knowledge and projects, a community of supporters that grows every month, and a freedom to fund risky or whacky projects that would scare off traditional funders—all thanks to the power of "It's Our Money!"

We call on Patriotic Microphilanthropists across America to start "People PACs" in their town. You won’t need any lawyers or money managers or snake oil selling political consultants.

You’ll just need to follow five easy steps:

1) Gather together with 10 fellow patriots
2) Ask everyone to put in $100
3) Give all the money you collect to the politician, organization, or fellow citizen who is doing the most inspiring or creative work in your area to make sure the people get a fair shake
4) Publicly announce and celebrate the project or individual endorsed by your city’s People PAC—parties encouraged
5) Repeat every month

Over the past three years, The Awesome Foundation has funded an incredible array of projects from a giant hammock in Boston to youth street theatre in Edmonton to a Temple of Doom recreation in Washington, DC. In New York City, we spun out a new "Awesome Sandy" chapter just to support more of the awesome projects submissions we received related to hurricane relief. If we all work together, People PACs can start jumpstarting people power across the country by buying banners for the next Occupy, campaign signs for the next grassroots politician, and supporting a whole range of inspired people and projects who are otherwise marginalized by the focus on big money political machinery.

We hope that "well connected and well heeled" readers answer Bill and Arnie's call to "fund the groups that fight for political reform." But we also hope that the less well heeled readers do not read it as a call to sit back and wait for rich folks to start signing checks.

No! As The Awesome Foundation has proven in the philanthropic world, sustainably pooling small donations can be incredibly powerful. For too long, small donors have been relegated to bit roles in our nation's political drama. Micah Sifry calls them the "suckers" of American politics "used and abused by campaign operatives who take their money, whisper promises of 'you own this campaign' in their thank-you email, and screwed by politicians who realize that these have no way to enforce their desires." As Patriotic Microphilanthropists, we can never realize our full potential until we seize control of our own future instead of allowing ourselves to be donate-button-clicking zombies for the two major political parties.

It's time to get money in. The irony would be far too sweet if it was cold hard cash that finally united citizens to fight back in a post-Citizen’s United America.

Sam Novey is an entrepreneur, organizer, and general troublemaker living in New York City. He is a Dean emeritus of the New York City Awesome Foundation

Erhardt Graeff is an entrepreneur and researcher at the MIT Media Lab and MIT Center for Civic Media. He is one of the founding trustees of The Awesome Foundation, and continues to serve as a trustee of the Boston chapter.